Trad Gang

This story is a little long in the telling, but I hope it will be worth your time to read.  I had an experience this past Sunday that re-taught some very valuable lessons for me, and maybe they can help you as well.  

This past Sunday morning I had the chance I had been waiting for.  A very nice buck was cruising down one of the trails I was watching.  As he came broadside in a shooting lane he obligingly stopped and posed for me.  I drew and sent the arrow on its way, only to be sickened by a sharp "crack" as it hit high with very little penetration.

The buck dashed about twenty yards and stopped to look around to see what had happened.  I could see the arrow shaft laying on the ground halfway between us.  He was maybe 30 yards away at this point but no chance for a clear follow up shot. With my binoculars I could see the spot of the hit high on his shoulder, but could see no blood at the wound site.  

He slowly worked his way down wind of me, and actually started to come closer again.  I thought for a minute I might get another chance.  But eventually he turned and walked off in the direction he had originally been heading.  

After a half hour wait I got down to go check my arrow.  As I expected, penetration was poor.  The brass insert was bent but still attached to the shaft, and the broadhead (Wensel Woodsman) had snapped off.  I assumed it was still in the deer.  There was moisture and a few specs of blood approximately 4" up on the shaft.  Add the length of the broadhead itself and we have maybe 6" of penetration.  

In thinking about the shot itself, I don't believe that I reached full draw before releasing.  That is a common struggle for me, and it causes two big problems.  When I short draw I tend to shoot high.  Arrow flight is poor and of course there is less momentum behind it, so penetration is poor.

I was convinced that I had hit the shoulder blade.  There was absolutely no blood on the ground.  In my mind the best senario I could think of was maybe somehow the broadhead had been able to get deep enough to affect one lung.  But in reality I was pretty well convinced that the wound was superficial and the buck was none the worse for the wear.

I climbed back into my stand and gave it another couple of hours.  Then I gradually worked my way through the woods in the direction he had gone, checking trails and hoping for a speck of blood, as well as hoping against hope that he might have bedded before going too far.  

After a thorough search of the area without a clue I had given up and headed back toward the cabin, sick with the knowledge that I had lost a wounded deer.  Suddenly to my left a deer jumped from its bed and bounded 10 yards before stopping.  It was him!  

He stopped behind a couple of large trees which prevented me from seeing him well, but I thought I caught a glimpse of him staggering sideways as if he was off balance a bit.  After a 10 miinute face off he slowly wandered away from me again, and I backed out.  Before leaving I did ease into the bed he had vacated, but found only a tiny spec of blood.  

I couldn't be positive about the stagger when he jumped to his feet, but it gave me hope.  If he really did do that it could only mean that he was hurt worse than I thought, and maybe I still had a chance.  

I debated whether to leave him overnight or try to go after him that afternoon.  Temperatures were mid 50's during the day and would cool overnight, but I worried that if he had died shortly after I had jumped him the meat might not be good.  I decided to wait as long as I could that day and go in with a few hours of daylight left to ease slowly through the most likely spots he could have stopped.  If I didn't find him then I would come back in the morning for a more thorough grid search of the area.

I found nothing where I had last seen him.  I eased over the top of a hill with the thought to circle in front of his last direction of travel.  As I came over the crest a patch of white in the raspberry bushes drew my attention, and the binoculars confirmed it was him!  I could see his head on the ground, but as I eased toward him there was a small movement of a leg.  He was still alive but just barely, and a finishing arrow ended it quickly.

Where did the first BH end up?

Thanks for sharing that with us Joe. You are right that is a good lesson. It is always tempting to give up in a situation like that when it seems that it was a superficial hit. I am glad you story had a happy ending. Now lets see a picture of your buck!

After gutting chores where completed I could find no holes for the first broadhead in the chest cavity at all.  The broadhead was buried high in the shoulder.  The autopsy would be very interesting...

The upper hole is where the first shot entered the buck.  The other hole is the exit from the finishing shot.

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Fall%202009/CStJudeBowBuildandBRFBuck102.jpg)

The broadhead had indeed gone through the shoulder blade.  
 (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Fall%202009/CStJudeBowBuildandBRFBuck110.jpg)

It lodged in the bone just above the spinal column.
 (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Fall%202009/CStJudeBowBuildandBRFBuck106.jpg)

 (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Fall%202009/CStJudeBowBuildandBRFBuck107.jpg)

 (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Fall%202009/CStJudeBowBuildandBRFBuck109.jpg)

As you can see, there is some blood in the tissues between the shoulder and the body.  But after cutting everything away I confirmed that the first broadhead did not enter any part of the body cavity at all.  

Remember that there was no blood to speak of in the bed that he layed in for over two hours.  So no external blood.  No blood in the body cavity.  To be totally honest with you, I'm still not sure why this buck even died.  Maybe some of you with more knowledge of anatomy will have some ideas?  Tippit??

I cannot see any of your pictures where I am working right now but from your description I can offer a possible explanation.  If your broadhead is really close to the spinal cord, given enough time the swelling and inflammation from the broadhead in the bone could cause enough local edema to put sufficient pressure on the spinal cord and cause paralysis of everything distal to that point.  This would included skeletal muscle paralysis and paralysis of the muscles of respiration, meaning no breathing or impaired breathing, resulting in hypoxia, obtundation and ultimately brain death.

Joe,

That did not take NEARLY as long as I thought it would   ;)  

1st, let's see a field photo...

2nd, I hit a doe like that a few years ago.  The broadhead went thru the shoulder and worked it's way along the spine and along the neck.  The arrow moving the broadhead around did a lot of cutting.

Glad you found him!

I don't think he would have died at all if you hadn't shot him again.  That does not look like a killer wound at all to me.

Thanks for the discussion.

So here is what I have learned.  In reality, they are all things that I knew previously, but this experience has really driven them home for me.

Follow up every shot, no matter how superficial it may seem.

Things happen very quickly at the time of a shot, and our perceptions of what occured are not always the same as reality.

Lack of blood sign is no excuse for not trying to find a hit animal.

Practice your shooting skills and make the best shot you possibly can.  I got extremely lucky with this deer, but if I had made a better shot to begin with I would not have had to rely on luck.  I know that in many cases with a hit like I had the animal would be lost.  

Pay attention to the reaction of the animal.  In thinking back, the fact that he walked away slowly as if nothing had happened was actually a clue that he was badly hurt.  

Lastly, believe in the power of prayer.  After jumping the buck and going back to the cabin I prayed for guidance on both what to do and for help in finding the buck if he was indeed hurt.  Normally I try not to ask for help through prayers for trivial things, but in this case I needed all the help I could get.  The lord came through.....

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Fall%202009/CStJudeBowBuildandBRFBuck077.jpg)

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Jlasch/Fall%202009/CStJudeBowBuildandBRFBuck081.jpg)

Apex, I am convinced the buck was very near death when I found him.  His head was flat on the ground, the movement of his leg was very slight and slow.  I approached to within 5 yards for the finishing shot and he couldn't move.  He wasn't going anywhere, and the finishing arrow was simply to help end it quickly.  

John, that is pretty technical sounding stuff, but it sure sounds like that could be exactly what happened.  As I approached his respirations were very slow and labored when he did take a breath.

I'll agree with Sherpa. I think that tiny little hole next to your knife point tells me that. The tip of the BH wiggling back and forth, or bone chips along the spinal column, probably caused enough spinal trauma to make that deer want to lay down and stay down, unless pushed (fight or flight).

p.s. Nice deer! Way to stay with it thru the end!

Nice buck and interesting story.  Great follow up.  Congrats.

Nice buddy.  That would make a VERY good article for the PBS magazine...

" I knew it was just a matter of time, way to stick with it"   :bigsmyl:      :notworthy:

If you'd have used a two blade broadhead he'd have gone down sooner.   :D   Sorry Curt, couldn't resist!  :p  

Great lessons to share Joe - and a dandy buck!

QuoteOriginally posted by beachbowhunter:
If you'd have used a two blade broadhead he'd have gone down sooner.    :D    

I had no doubt I would hear that one from someone  :biglaugh:    :biglaugh:

That was a FANTASTIC story!
I think the spinal trauma theory hits it right on the nose.

As far as the prayer goes, if ever there's a good time to ask for help, that's one of 'em. Congratulations!

Great job Whip! Those animals deserve every effort it takes to find 'em...and having God deliver in our hour of need is never trivial.

is that blood in front of his mouth in the one photo?

nice buck, very nice photo's btw .... you didn't clip the doral artery did you?

QuoteOriginally posted by BradLantz:
is that blood in front of his mouth in the one photo?

nice buck, very nice photo's btw .... you didn't clip the doral artery did you?

The blood by the mouth is from the finishing shot through the lungs.  No artery was hit - there was very little blood loss at all that I could tell other than from that final arrow.

The first bear I shot with a longbow was hit in the spine.  I was shooting a 75 pound draw martin mountaineer.  I knew nothing about tuning a bow then and that bow would jar the fillings out of your teeth if you shot it very much.   I have always liked heavy arrows and it was a good thing.  I shot the bear and had good lung blood but not much penetration. I only took out the top of one lung. The bear only went about 100 yards and laid down.  As is customary in northern Alberta, the bear was not even looked for until the next morning. The bear was found laying down where he stopped the night before.  He was paralyzed from his shoulders down. He was one angry bear and still able to take a swipe and bite at you.  Luckily he wasn't able to charge. I used a 190 gr grizzly and it plowed deep into the vertebral body, so deep I was not able to extract it.  Spinal trauma will catch up with them if given a few hours to work.

Outstanding Whip! Very, very proud for you brother...that is an excellent animal and quite the memory of a lesson learned/re-learned.

Another explanation...maybe it's just good clean living Joe. Cashing the "Karma Check"? I have no doubts your account was full and you were due for a withdrawl.  :clapper:

One of these days I'm gonna have to teach you how to tell a story though...you could have stretched this to 3-4 days easy  :biglaugh:

Whip, Congrats on the buck!!!

Thanks for sharing the story and all the details of the shot along with the pics. Sage advice in regards to shot follow up to say the least.    :thumbsup:  

Post shot follow up has so many moving parts that any one could be a potential pit-fall. You are spot on that going the extra mile pays off.

You are a true sportsman and I appreicate all you taught me last week and you continue to help teach from afar with this thread.

Thanks again and congratulations on a super deer.   :clapper:  

Is this one going up on the cabin wall or going home?????

Congratulations.  Thanks for sharing that...

Very interesting, great deer Whip and good job on keeping the faith.

Thanks for sharing,congrats on a nice buck.

quote:

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Originally posted by JC:
One of these days I'm gonna have to teach you how to tell a story though...you could have stretched this to 3-4 days easy   :bigsmyl: